Fauna of Bryozoa from Kongsfjorden, West Spitsbergen
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vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 193–206, 2002 Fauna of Bryozoa from Kongsfjorden, West Spitsbergen Piotr KUKLIŃSKI Instytut Oceanologii, Polska Akademia Nauk, ul. Powstanców Warszawy 55, 81−712 Sopot, Poland (mailing address) < [email protected]> UNIS (The University Courses on Svalbard), P.O. Box 156, 9171 Longyearbyean, Norway ABSTRACT: Bryozoans were collected in Kongsfjorden (79°N and 12°E) in the summer seasons of 1997, 1998, and 1999. In the total of 44 grab, dredge, and SCUBA diving sam− ples 143 taxa were determined: 123 species, 17 to the generic and 3 to the family level. In the investigated material were 24% Arctic species and 66% boreal−Arctic species. This sug− gests a rather Arctic nature of the fjord. A few boreal species indicate the influence of warm water masses (West Spitsbergen Current). The majority of species (76%) have an encrust− ing life form. There were 5 species with a frequency of occurrence higher than 20%. These are Electra crustulenta var. arctica (31.82%); Cylindroporella tubulosa (27.27%); Tegella arctica (22.73%); Tegella armifera (20.45%); and Hippothoa divaricata var. arctica (20.45%). Among all identified species 23 were recorded for the first time in the area of Svalbard archipelago. Most (79%) of newly noted species have Arctic distributions. The lower sampling effort of previous researchers most likely accounts for the present enrich− ment of the list of Bryozoa of Kongsfjorden. Key words: Arctic, Spitsbergen, Kongsfjorden, Bryozoa. Introduction Bryozoa are benthic organisms, occurring mainly in marine ecosystems. The majority of species (ca. to 5000) live in the sea, but some are also found in freshwaters (Ryland 1970). In Arctic ecosystems these animals belongs to the most specious groups (Gulliksen et al. 1999). Initial investigations into Bryozoa in Svalbard waters took place at the end of the last century. These were mostly taxo− nomical works undertaken by Bidenkap (1897, 1900a, 1900b), Kluge (1906) and Nordgaard (1900, 1918). Recent papers by Różycki and Gruszczyński (1986), and Lippert (1998) were the first studies where ecology of bryozoans occurring in area Pol. Polar Res. 23 (2): 193–206, 2002 194 Piotr Kukliński o o 11 10' 20' 30' 40' 50' 12 10' 20' 30' N E Tidal glaciers 06' D 06' 50 R Grab KF 10 O 79°N J Dredge 50 F 200 100 S SCUBA diving S Kapp Guissez 04' 04' O 10 Bryozoans present R K 100 50 300 02' 11 200 02' 15°E K n g s f j o r O K o d r e n 12 300 N G n a S F 9 300 400 J O 7 79o R 79o N D 13 10 E 10 200 N 8 Blomstrandoya 50 4 50 58' 14 L 58' 200 Kvadehuken o v 300 e 6 300 n 3 o y 56' GREENLAND SEA 5 200 a 56' n e 50 100 200 100 50 54' 2 54' 400 100 1 50 52' 52' 11o 10' 20' 30' 40' 50' 12o E 10' 20' 30' Fig. 1. Area of study and sampling station. covered by the present research were published. This paper deals mainly with faunistics and is an attempt to prepare an updated list of the Bryozoa of Kongs− fjorden (West Spitsbergen). The study presented is also part of the International Project BIODAF (Biodiversity and fluxes in Arctic glaciated fiords). Area of study Kongsfjorden is situated on the western coast of Spitsbergen at 79°N and 12°E (Fig. 1). The fjord is 26.1 km long and on average 8 km wide. The whole area of the fjord is 208.8 km2. The maximum depth is 428 m while the average is 141 m. The length of coastline of the fjord is 89.6 km, with 15.9 km being covered by glaciers. The main environmental factors responsible for the conditions in the fjord are the depth, the distance from the open sea and from the glaciers, and climate. Kongs− fjorden is devoid of sill at its entrance, which causes a strong influence of oceanic waters up on the hydrological regime (Węsławski et al. 1991, Ito and Kudoh 1997). There are two main water masses which influence Kongsfjorden. The first is the West Spitsbergen Current, which is a branch of warm (4°C) and highly saline (35 PSU) Norwegian Current. This current flows along the western and northern parts of Spitsbergen (Loeng 1991). Transportation of these warm water masses causes a Fauna of Bryozoa from West Spitsbergen 195 milder climate compared to other areas at the same latitude (Gammelsrod and Rudels 1983). The second water mass influencing this area is the East Spitsbergen Current. The cold, dense, and highly saline water of this current originates from the Arctic Ocean. It flows along the eastern coast of Spitsbergen down to the southern tip of the island, where it becames the Sorkapp Current. The Sorkapp Current brings waters, with temperatures from –1,5 to 1°C and salinity of 34–35 PSU to the western coast of Spitsbergen (Loeng 1991, Beszczyńska et al. 1997). The amount of suspended matter close to glaciers can reach 300–500 mg/dm3, decreasing in the central and outer parts of the fjord in the summer. In the inner ba− sin the amount in the intermediate water layer may reach from 2–3 mg dm–3 to 20–25 mg dm–3 in the central part, whereas the relatively clear water in outer parts of the fjord contains only 0.5 mg dm–3 (Elverhoi et al. 1983, Zajączkowski 2000). Materials and methods Samples were taken during the 1997 and 1998 cruises of r/v Oceania and the 1999 cruise of r/v Jan Mayen. Three techniques were used to collect samples: Van Veen grab, dredge, and SCUBA diving. Among 44 samples, 13 were col− lected by SCUBA diving, 30 by grab and 1 by dredge (Table 1). Bryozoa were found on rocks, stones, shells, algae and soft sediment. The distribution of sam− pling stations is shown in Fig. 1. SCUBA diving was used to collect samples down to 25 m, while all the other samples were collected by grab and dredge. In the case of rocks, stones, and shells the collected material was dried. Algae, soft sediment samples, and bushy bryozoans were placed in 4% formaline. Some al− gae with encrusted Bryozoa were placed in the freezer. Material from the freezer was refrozen in the laboratory and, after being used, preserved in 4% formaline. Species determination was done using a stereomicroscope. The classification of the studied bryozoans and their geographical distribution were based on Kluge (1962) and Gontar and Danisienko (1989), with some updated corrections done by Hayward and Ryland (1979, 1985, 1996) and Hayward (1985, 1994). Most of the species not identified in this study were those which had been mechanically damaged. Table 1 Sampling effort. First number denotes number of samples analysed; number of samples with Bryozoa given in brackets. Depth intervals (m) 0–5 6–25 26–50 51–200 >200 SCUBA 1 (1) 12 (12) 0 0 0 Grab 0 0 13 (4) 7 (4) 10 (2) Dredge 0 0 1 (1) 0 0 196 Piotr Kukliński Frequencies of occurrence were calculated using following equation: F = n n–1 i F – frequency of given taxon [%] n – number of samples where given taxon was present i n – number of all samples Results 143 taxa have been recognized: 123 species, and 17 to the generic and 3 to the family level (Table 2). Identified taxa belong to three orders: Cyclostomata, Cteno− stomata and Cheilostomata. In the collected material the most abundant taxa were from the order of Cheilostomata (79%). The lowest number of taxa were repre− sented by the order Ctenostomata (5%). There were three species (Electra crustu− lenta var. arctica, Callopora craticula, Porella minuta) which occurred in the whole range of sampled depths. 38 species were present only in one depth interval. Based on the classification used by Gontar and Danisienko (1989) in the investi− gated material contained 24% species of Arctic, 66% species of boreal−Arctic, 3% species of amphiboreal, 2% species of high boreal, 2% species of boreal and 3% species of subtropical−boreal origin. The majority of the species (76 %) were of an encrusting life form. There were 5 species which had a frequency of occurrence higher than 20% (Table 2). These were: Electra crustulenta var. arctica (31.82%); Cylindroporella tubulosa (27.27%); Tegella arctica (22.73%); Tegella armifera (20.45%); and Hippothoa divaricata var. arctica (20.45%). Taking into account the data by Kluge (1975), Lippert (1998) and Gulliksen et al. (1999) there were 23 species (marked by + sign in Table 2) which were recorded for the first time in the investigated area. The relationship between the number of taxa and the number of samples is shown in Fig. 2. Discussion Large−scale patterns in many planktonic, nektonic, and benthic taxa distribu− tions show a marked decline in species richness from the tropics to the pole (Stevens 1989, Ormond et al. 1997) There are, however, cases to which that rule does not apply, like for example soft bottom communities (Kendall and Aschan 1993). Bryozoa are very species rich in the Arctic. Kluge (1975) recorded 187 spe− cies in the Kara Sea (101 of them found in that study as well) and 277 species in the Barents Sea (117 of them found in Kongsfjorden). But still the number of species seems to be lower than those occurring in lower latitudes: for example in the Medi− terranean Sea 370 species were found (Clarke and Lidgard 2000). Kluge (1975) found 149 species in the vicinity of Franz Joseph Land, (where conditions are Fauna of Bryozoa from West Spitsbergen 197 number of taxa number of samples Fig.